Topics - JAGX

GW is a much better school, but I'd be drowning in debt, plus I don't know if I would be able to compete well enough with the other students to snag a six figure job I'd need to pay off my loans. On the plus side, it would be a much better chance for me to earn more once I graduate, and have more opportunities.

UB is just the opposite; easier to compete, less debt, but also less earning power and less opportunities.

I'm going to be starring law school in the Fall, and I'm considering going to my local law school (UB).

I live about ~45 min away, and I commute for undergrad. But, for law school, I suspect that I will have to spend long hours after class studying in the library after hours and on the weekends. I would also like to participate in mock trial and/or a law review journal. This being said, it will be add a significant cost to get an apartment. I think it would be easier in general to be able to have a home base to bounce back and forth to between classes, but of course my father disagrees and thinks I should just sit in the library between/after class, then come home after I'm done.

So, I have a difficult choice to make, I was recently accepted into George Mason, and as you all know, they are a Tier one school around rank #41. The tuition is around 35k for out of state, and it is notoriously hard to adjust to in-state status, so I won't count on that.

In tier two, I have been accepted into the University at Buffalo, ranked #80 or so, with a 12k tuition (after a 5k scholarship). As a bonus, this is my home town, so it's close and I have a minor network of contacts and obviously family in the area, but there aren't too many jobs out here.

I'm also on the wait list for Washington and Lee, which is rated a little better than George Mason.

So what advice would the good people of this forum have for me? Going out of state would cost me about 60-70k more to attend George Mason, and I would not have any family or contacts. But, I would be going into a 'better' school with supposedly better job prospects and a better salary. UB, on the other hand, is close to home, and is very inexpensive. It may even be easier to get into the coveted top 10%, since the competition may not be as stiff. However, the average starting salary is of course lower, and the school name is not as well recognized (although I don't know how well Gorge Mason is either).